Peasant Fires

Chapter 1- Enchanted Time

• Wunderli's Story

o Hans Behem, a man most likely in his early twenties, was a peasant who lived in the Tauber Valley in Germany 

o One night in 1476 he was watching sheep in a field when the Virgin Mary appeared to him

o She told him he was one of her favored shepards (shepards were supposed to be special to Mary because according to Luke's gospel they had been the first to visit the manger) and that God is angry with mankind because they were consumed by their vanities and were not worshiping as they should.  Because of this God had sent the extreme cold and snow to punish the people.

o The Virgin Mary gave him the task of first burning his drum and shepard's pipe, his own vanities and then preach to the people and tell them to rid themselves of their vanities 

o This story, or at least the embellishments were mostly made up by Wunderli, although it was based on the fact that Hans Behem did claim to have visions of the Virgin and preached to peasant-pilgrims on her behalf 

• Thesis: “ Hans and his peasant-pilgrims reacted to their changing material conditions (over which they had no control or understanding) by making an appeal to supernatural forces to find justice, for their discontent and meaning for their misery”

• Hans was called “the Drummer” because he played the drums, which were not considered acceptable for polite society, so this was the most degrading name his enemies could think of 

• Hans’ enemies considered him lower than a peasant because he was a mere player or a child in society rather than a worker

• Hans was born in Franconia which is in South Central Germany- in the village  of Helmstadt 

• Hans and Niklashausen belonged to- 1. secular jurisdiction of Grafschaft (country) 2. Spiritual jurisdiction to Archbishop of Mainz 3. Hans also then was also a part of the Diocese of Wurzburg which was under the bishop

• So because he was under all these jurisdictions he had to deal with three different authorities 

• Natural world was not something that existed by itself there was a very porous barrier that lead to the divine realms 

• Thought this other realm was real and tangible- weather was formed here, fertility of crops animals and humans, etc.- use this realm to explain things that they can not understand

• During feast days, holy days, or other days dedicated to Christ- times in the year people could get closer to the other realm

• From December to late June- most radiant or holiest time

• Was not Hans voice that called thousands of pilgrims- it was the voice of the Virgin Mary that he was supposed to speak with

• Not unusual that Hans saw Mary because she was able to, more than other saints, to appear whole to humans because of the Assumption

Chapter 2 – Carnival

• Story about a boy getting justice against those above him through laughter and crass humor- shows how carnival helps people to make fun of those in charge and how it will be there only way (through enchanted world, imagination, and magic) that peasants will be able to overthrow their tormentors

• Medieval Europe knew a lot of different instruments but the lowest of these instruments was the drums- right above that is the shepard’s pipe- this was because anyone could play the drums and the beat was considered to be connected with the rhythms of sex

• Carnival- the greatest folk festival, an exuberant and enchanted time in which common folk could act out fantasy justice through masquerade, games, dirty songs

• Extremely uninhibited and joyful- it directly preceded Lent so it was the opposite of everything Lent stood for 

• Carnival was a time of indulgence, laughing, mockery, and dancing

• This festival was bound to the feast of Epiphany 

• Carnival was a time in which the official culture and social structure were turned on its head or turned upside down - People would where their clothes backwards, ride animals backwards, dress up as something that they weren’t 

• Every festival had two parts to it the folk (market day ) and the elite (solemn church ceremony) which seemed in opposition to each other 

• Carnival had a focus of the genital, stomach, intestines, and defecation, because this focus brought the elite down to the same level of the peasants, by having the same bodily functions

• Everything was extremely crude and exaggerated

• Celebration of the material world

• Mocked the clergy

• Time at the period was not a measure of hours and days it was measured in ritualized joy, laughter, deprivation, and seriousness

• Carnival allowed peasants to laugh at those in official powers that they could not normally did- used humor and fantasy to not seem so oppressed by the privileged authority

• Length of Carnival depended on where it took place- countryside it could last for several days before lent and in the cities it could last a couple of weeks

• People would where their clothes backwards, ride animals backwards, dress up as something that they weren’t 

• Carnival ended during the night of Shrove Tuesday which in 1476 fell on February 26- ended with large peasant bonfire which priests would bless and they would therefore become something sacred

• As the fire would burn, the believed if the smoke blew over the fields it was a sign of a good harvest, peasants would dance around the fire, when it was embers men and women would leap over it to ensure fertility 

• For everyone Carnival was a time of gaiety- although the people in power were often worried in this time because they were worried the powerless would not stop their Carnival spirit if there was discontent caused by harsh weather, famine, etc

Chapter 3 – Lent

• The opposite of Carnival

• Lent lasted for forty days and ended with Easter which was a very joyous occasion

• Lent was all about denying oneself material possessions in order to gain spiritual salvation

• For the peasants, since they were already extremely poor, Lent only “justified and sanctified” their misery

• Hans had a lot of the same Lenten messages

• Peasants had many restrictions placed on them because they lacked the privileges of those above them in social standing

• One of the main reasons that peasants came to Niklashausen because Hans shared the same world view as them

• Life as a peasant was compared to a person standing in a river up to their neck in water, in which a small ripple could drown them- this was especially true in terms of finance, because they were already barely getting by so any minor chance could completely ruin them

• The rich prospered at the expense of the poor because there was a fixed supply of land and food so every gain for someone was taken away from someone else

• Thought that everyone should work and share in the sources equally

• Peasants got through life through help of the community

• Bonfire of vanities- public bonfire in which people threw their possessions (their vanities) other than their basic necessities 

• Although the poor in Europe were mostly poor not by choice, their were those that chose to give up their worldly possessions- such as friars who took vows of poverty in order to get to heaven without going to purgatory, even some lay people would try to live a poor life

• Difference between the cult of poverty (friars and laypeople that gave up possessions so that they would not have to go to purgatory) and the culture of poverty (peasants)

• Preaching was legally restricted to Bishops, priests, and traveling friars

• John Capistrano, who was made a saint, was an Italian friar whose preaching some compared Hans’ preaching to (both said that they had visions of Mary, had bonfire of vanities, and disliked fashions).  He left Italy in 1451 and crossed to central Europe, he was 65 years old.  Drew enormous crowds wherever he preached, even though he did not know most of thenative languages.

• People also came to see Capistrano because he carried the relics of St. Bernadino which they believed could heal their ills with a single touch

Chapter 4 – Walpurgisnacht

• Walpurgisnacht is the Feast of Walburga

• It was celebrated on April 30th in 1476 on the eve of May Day.

• Large peasant bonfires were set on this night in order to chase away WITCHES

• Shortly after this in May, large groups began to congregate in Niklashausen, because they thought Hans’ prayers to the Virgin Mary had supposedly lifted God’s wrath from Germany which was shown by the weather warming and melting the snow on the field.

• This pilgrimage was extremely threatening to those in authority because peasant pilgrims left with out getting permission from anyone- not even their land lords or priests.

• “Social rank and obligation just seemed to dissolve.”

• Bishop Rudolph was given permission by the Archbishop to stop Hans from preaching 

• Hans was so troubling to the elite because he had taken the enchanted time that normally only lasted throught the winterand continued it into the summer – this defied the Church calendar

• Unlike people today who search for answers in science and laws of nature, the people during this time needed to turn to supernatural forces in order to explain the events around them – asked the question “Who” is making this happen, not “What” is making this happen

• Believed God was “directly responsible for everything that happened in nature” – thought a miracle was God revealing himself in nature

• Peasants relied even more on supernatural forces to explain things

• Believed sickness and pain was caused either by God or Satan – either way your disease was caused by supernatural powers for a reason so there was always guilt associated with illness

• Best was to rid themselves of illness was through moral cleansing than, which is often why people made pilgrimages, especially to places where miracles had happened before because there was supposedly a tear in the veil between the real and divine worlds

• In pilgrimages, rank had much lesser value, and almost leveled status between pilgrims

• Liminal- a state of inbetween almost, a person does not fit in anywhere and they do not belong to a specific category (ex. Stage inbetween a man and a boy or a pilgrimage)

• A pilgrimage was liminal because they were outside society and not responsible to anyone but God

• Pilgrimages, and the pilgrims on them, were very diverse because there were so many different reasons to go on one

Chapter 5 - The Feast of Corpus Christi

• In 1247 the Feast of the Eucharist made a feast day

• Corpus Christi- body of Christ

• This feast day literally put everyone in their place by having them line up according to authority for the parades

• Reformers- literally wanted to re form the clergy into a mythical idea that they thought the clergy had been before 

• Bishop Rudolph was a reformer, and he was actually the best bishop that the region had had for a long while 

• Midsummers Eve- June 23rd – great bonfires were lit and it was considered a “fleeting, enchanted, liminal time”

• The town councils met to discuss getting rid of Hans Behem, but they wanted to do it legally so they sent two spies to hear him speak at the Feast of the Visitaion of Mary to hear the heretical things he said.

Chapter 6 - The Feast of the Visitation of Mary

• Mary had seven Feast days, unlike most saints who only had one or two

• Celebrated on July 2nd

• This celebration referes to a passage in Luke in which Elizabeth visited marry while she was pregnant with St. John the Baptist and he leapt with joy in her womb when Mary greeted them

• Hans social gospel spoke to the fantasies of the peasants

• Hans’ denial of the existence of purgatory was his most overt heretical idea

• Due to the knowledged gained by the spieas, Bishop Rudoplh was able to take the next steps

o First he stopped the ability of pilgrims to go to Niklashausen

• On July 7th, Hans said that the male pilgrims should come to Niklashausen with weapons on the Feast of Saint Margaret

Chapter 7 - The Feast of St. Margaret

• St. Margaret could actually be several different people- most common legend was that she was the daughter of a pagan priest who who converted to Christianity and converted many others.  Eventually, she was tortured, swallowed by a dragon, and beheaded.

• Bishop Rudolph sent his knights to kidnap the Drummer from the farmhouse he was staying at – did not hurt anyone except slightly injuring a horse.

• The enchanted time in Niklashausen abruptly ended and was replaced with real normal time after Hans was kidnapped.

• After finading out Hans was gone, the whole next day was spent discussing what should be done and five knights stepped forward to lead.  Shows that real time was coming back because rank, in regaurds to knights again leading peasants, was becoming important again.

• That night the pilgrims decided to march to Wurzburg to demand the return of their leader.

• The Bishop sent out emissaries to try and get them to leave, then cannons were fired over their heads but this just confirmed the pilgrims belief that Mary was protecting them, cannons were than shot at the pilgrims and after this most pilgrims fled.

• Authorities did not question that miracles did not happen, they just did not think a Drummer, a care taker of animals, and a peasant could have had this happen to him because God always had to be on the side of the authority.  So all these supposed miracles were explained away.

• Between July 15- July 19 Hans Behem stood trial for heresy, after which he was burned at the stake, and his two supposed compainions were sentenced to be beheaded.

• The executions took place of July 19 

Chapter 8 - Historical Time

• The Bishop and other authorities thought the pilgrims would come back, but they had all actually started heading home.

• Some of the Drummer’s follows took dirt from where he was buried as a relic.

• A few pilgrims still came to Niklashausen despite the fact that it was prohibited.

• In order to stop this they demolished the church of Niklashausen in the early months of 1477

• On July 26, 1518 the Archbishop of Mainz granted permission to rebuild the church.

• Almost all that we know of Hans Behem we learn from his enemies, who almost always talk about him in a mocking and negative light.